Secrets of the Founders
by Framboesinha
Summary: What if Voldemort had been prompted to protect and booby trap his horcruxes, including a certain diary, a bit more thoroughly? What if Slytherin hadn't been the only founder who left some of his secrets behind in a certain chamber? AU! Time Travel! HPGW!
1. Chapter 1

**Secrets of the Founders**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Summary**: Voldemort's discovery that someone has been tampering with his horcruxes prompts him to use a very special artifact to do a little time traveling so that he can protect and booby trap his horcruxes, including a certain diary, a bit more thoroughly. However, this leads to consequences that no one could ever have forseen--as well as the discovery that Slytherin wasn't the only founder who's secrets could be found in a certain chamber...AU after the end of CoS… Very much Harry/Ginny (although not until a bit later on…)

**Rating**: PG for now, although it will probably go a bit higher later on in the story…

**Ships**: H/G is the only one I'll guarantee… The rest will be whatever my muse tells me they should be. He's very demanding about these sorts of things.

**A/N**: Hello all, and thank you for reading my story! As I didn't have access to my copy of _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,_ I'm afraid that the beginning part of this chapter may be somewhat inaccurate in details, although hopefully the general story line will remain the same. If it bothers anyone excessively, feel free to email the corrected version of this scene to me, and I will certainly correct it. Also, now that I think on it, the scene that takes place in Dumbledore's office should really be taking place in McGonagall's office according to book cannon. Movie cannon messes everything up in my head though, and now it's already written, so so be it. The first two paragraphs are from JK's story, but from there things begin to go a bit differently… Please, please, please review!

**Chapter One:**

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, June 1992

"_You're dead, Harry Potter." Tom Riddle's voice echoed laughingly throughout the cavernous chamber of secrets. Harry knew what he said was true. With a grimace, he pulled the basilisk's fang from his forearm, and slumped against the wall of the chamber. _He had failed Ginny_, he thought. _He had failed everyone_. Riddle's laughing seemed to be growing more and more distant, as Harry's vision grew cloudier, when suddenly, unexpectedly, Harry heard a reassuring trill next to his ear. "Look," Tom continued. "Do you see what Dumbledore's pet bird is doing? It's crying, Potter. Even the phoenix knows that you're dead…." And it was true. Great pools of diamond-like liquid were forming in the great bird's eyes, and then one by one, they began to drip onto the wound in Harry's arm…. If this was dying, Harry thought groggily, it didn't seem so bad after all. But Harry didn't think he was dying. In fact his vision was becoming more and more clear, and suddenly he felt strength coursing it's way once again through his veins. _

_With a somewhat undignified squawk, Fawkes took to the air once again, just in time to avoid Tom Riddle's nearly solid foot as it came arching towards it in a kick. "Of course," Tom was muttering… "Phoenix tears…they have healing powers. I forgot. But it's alright, in fact I think I prefer it this way…Now I'll be able to kill you myself. Now I'll prove once and for all that I am the greatest wizard who has ever lived, and stupid Harry Potter will be nothing more than a memory." He aimed his wand directly at Harry's heart. Suddenly Fawkes swooped past once more, and into Harry's lap dropped... the diary. Harry looked down at it for an instant, then plunged the basilisk fang that was still clutched in his hand directly into the heart of the diary._

"Noooooo…" Tom was screaming and ink was pouring out of the diary coating Harry's hands and then the floor around him with the sticky black substance. Harry pulled the fang out of the diary, only to plunge it back in once again with more force. Tom was still screaming, yet strangely, he seemed to be laughing as well. "You're dead, Harry Potter!" This time it wasn't a menacing whisper but a scream of rage. "You're both deeeeeeaa…." Tom's voice was fading and so was his body, and then he was suddenly gone, but the diary continued to spray ink in all directions. It burst suddenly open and the pages began to turn wildly as if there was a massive windstorm inside the chamber, and suddenly, incredibly, there _was_ a windstorm. The wind howled blowing Harry's hair in all directions. Sword still clutched in one hand, Harry rushed over to Ginny, just as the ground began to tremble beneath them both.

Ginny was just sitting up, blinking rapidly and breathing heavily. Her eyes went straight to Harry. "Harry! Oh, Harry, it was the diary! Tom, he made me do it. I swear I didn't mean…"

"I know!" Harry shouted. "Ginny, we have to get out of here now!" Harry picked up his wand from the ground next to Ginny where it had clattered after Tom's disappearance and stuck it into the pocket of his robe. The ground had begun to shake more violently and cracks were beginning to appear in the stone floor below them. Seemingly taking in her surroundings for the first time, Ginny's eyes widened in panic, and she shot to her feet, only to clap a hand to her head and sway precariously. Harry put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, then, putting an arm around her waist, he began to lead her back towards the entrance to the chamber. Just as the long tunnel came into sight on the other side of the large double doors, boulders from the ceiling began to be hurled down all around them. Ginny screamed as one landed just feet from where they stood, effectively blocking them from entering the tunnel and returning the way they had come.

Wheeling around with his arm still firmly around Ginny's waist, Harry made for the nearest tunnel. Stones and boulders continued to fall like hail all around them, and soon the cracks in the floor would be too wide for them to jump over. A large rock clipped Harry in his shoulder, and he winced, but managed to retain a grip on the sword in his hand.

Hearing Fawkes' piercing cry as he swooped just above them, Harry glanced up, just in time to see a huge boulder come crashing down that would likely have killed both Harry and Ginny if Fawkes hadn't taken the blow for them. Fawkes hovered a moment, holding the boulder at bay above them, just long enough for Harry and Ginny to dash past, leaping over a crack in the floor. The stone walls of the chamber seemed to groan aloud as they began to collapse one by one. Harry saw Fawkes burst into flames moments before they reached the entrance to the tunnel. They couldn't have been more than a few feet into the tunnel when there was an almighty BOOM and the whole chamber collapsed upon itself, shooting smaller rocks and a great cloud of dust into the tunnel after Harry and Ginny.

After a few minutes of coughing and gasping for air in the dust filled tunnel, as they continued to run farther from the destruction occurring in the chamber, everything seemed to settle back to the earth and Harry finally allowed himself to relax. Still coughing, Ginny braced herself on the stone wall of the cave, then slid down to sit with her back leaning against it. Harry followed her to the ground. They sat there for several minutes, and except for the sound of their harsh breathing, all was deathly silent.

Harry retrieved his wand from the pocket of his school wand and muttered "Lumos," as the last of the torches had been extinguished in the chamber's destruction, and they hadn't extended down this tunnel in any case. Turning to Ginny, Harry was surprised to see silent tears running down her face, leaving clean streaks across her otherwise dirty skin. Harry imagined that he looked just as bad, if not worse, than she did. They had both slid down the grimy tunnel leading to the chamber, they were both covered in blood from the basilisk, (although Harry was a bit worse, having been drenched in it while Ginny had only been splashed,) and then dust from the avalanche of falling rocks had left them both looking a dull grayish color all over. Harry's shoulder still throbbed horribly from where it had been hit by a rock, and Ginny had been limping just before she slid to the ground. She touched her knee gingerly now, and Harry realized that it must have been hit by a flying rock as well. Perhaps that's why she was crying.

"Ginny," said Harry tentatively, "Ginny, please don't cry." He glanced down at her knee. "Does it hurt very badly?" he asked. Ginny ignored his question and began to cry more earnestly. "Please don't cry, Ginny," Harry repeated. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

"No it's no-o-o-ot!" Ginny wailed over a hiccup. "You nearly died, and it's all my fault, and Hermione, and Colin, and everyone! And Tom! Tom is going to be so angry with me! And you nearly died, and now we're trapped down here, and we're going to starve to death!" She was nearly screeching by the last sentence, and Harry winced.

"GINNY!" He said loudly. "Look at me!" Momentarily stunned out of her crying, Ginny looked up at him. "It's okay, really, it is. No one died--Madame Pomfrey said the Mandrake drought should be ready today or tomorrow. I'm okay, you're okay, and Tom's gone, he can't hurt you anymore."

"Harry," Ginny replied, "You don't understand. Tom--he's been making me do things all year. I didn't want to, but he made me, and afterwards I couldn't remember. But it's not only that--it's Tom. He's not just Tom. He's--he's--"

"Voldemort. I know," said Harry. "He told me, just now in the chamber. But it's okay, he's gone now."

"But he's not gone," Ginny whispered. "This Tom might be gone, but _he _is still out there, somewhere, isn't he? Biding his time. Ron said so last summer."

"Yeah, I reckon he is," said Harry. "But he's only a spirit, and he's weaker, probably, since he had to leave Quirrel. We're safe, for now, Ginny."

Ginny sniffed loudly and wiped her nose on one the sleeve of her robe. She only succeeded in making her face quite a bit dirtier. "We _will_ probably starve to death, though," she said. "No one will be able to reach us down here."

"Maybe there's another way out," said Harry. "C'mon, let's see where this tunnel goes to." He stood up, reached a hand down to help Ginny to her feet, then reached down and picked up the sword from the ground.

Ginny gasped. "Where did that sword come from?"

"Dunno, said Harry. "Tom called up the basilisk, and I thought for sure you and I were both dead, then suddenly Fawkes flew in holding the sorting hat, so I put the hat on my head, and out came this sword...

"I used it to kill the basilisk," he added quietly. Ginny gaped at him. "What?" he asked.

"I just--I saw the basilisk, and I saw that it was dead, but the rocks were falling, and everything was shaking, and I didn't think… You _killed_ the basilisk! With that sword!"

"Yeah, I guess. Fawkes gauged its eyes out first though, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was all just luck, really."

Ginny sniffed, and for a moment Harry was afraid she was going to start crying again, but she just laid a hand gently on Harry's arm and looked up into his face. "Thank you," she said softly. She gazed up at him for a moment, and there was no sign of the blush that usually came upon her the moment she met his eyes--though of course that may have been because she was covered from head to toe in grime and blood. After a moment though, she dropped her hand from Harry's arm, and turned to look down the passageway ahead of them. "Let's see where this tunnel goes, then," she said. Holding his lit wand aloft, Harry followed her down the tunnel.

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Several thousands of feet above Harry and Ginny, there was an uproar going on in the headmaster's office. A recently returned Albus Dumbledore and his head-deputy Minerva McGonagall had just finished explaining to a shocked Arthur and Molly Weasley that their daughter had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets and would most probably never be seen again, when suddenly they became aware that the castle was shaking all around them. Several of the silver instruments whirling and puffing gently began to whirl and puff quite vigorously, until the shaking grew to be too much and they began to fall from their positions on bookshelves and tables and smash on the floor. A heavy paperweight fell from the headmasters desk and shattered on the floor, and books began to shake out of their places and fall one by one to the floor as well. Albus Dumbledore looked up in alarm, Arthur Weasley swayed precariously in his position standing next to the desk, and Molly Weasley began to sob harder than ever into Minerva McGonagall's already very soggy shoulder. "Is it an earthquake, Albus?" cried McGonagall.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to answer, when suddenly the door to the office was flung open, and Percy Weasley, who also seemed to be fighting to keep his balance, entered the room. "Headmaster!" he gasped. "It's Ron--and Harry--they're missing!"

Molly Weasley passed out and pitched face forward out of her chair. Arthur attempted to catch her, but his sudden movement in the violently trembling room only made him lose his balance and fall to the ground as well--and then the shaking suddenly stopped.

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Ron Weasley was having quite a bad day. His dangerous, memory-stealing professor had attempted to curse him, causing a cave-in of rocks that might have killed him, and _had_ left him stranded on one side of a cave, while his best friend and his little sister were trapped on the other side with a giant snake that only had to look at you to kill you, and now, just when he had begun to make real progress on the pile of rocks that he was separated from them by, the cave had begun to shake violently--nearly collapsing upon itself.

The resulting fall of rocks had undone all of the progress he was beginning to make on the original cave in. Professor Lockhart, who was just beginning to stir, had been hit right in the head by one of them, and was now quite unconscious once again. Not that he would have been much help even if he was awake, Ron thought. Ron was beginning to despair of ever getting through to Harry and Ginny, and by the sounds of things, the avalanche of rocks had been even worse on their side of the barrier than it had been on his. Of course, for all he knew, they might both be dead by now even apart from that.

And to top it all off, his wand was still broken. With a sigh and a groan of frustration, Ron left the alcove where he had doven for shelter when the rocks began to fall, and began the slow and tedious process of moving the mountain of rocks out of the way once again.

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It seemed to Harry and Ginny that they had been following the old winding tunnel for a number of hours, (although it had in reality been perhaps one hour at the most.) Yet in their current states of exhaustion, coupled with their desire to get _out_ of the blasted chamber already, neither was measuring time very accurately. Ginny had taken over carrying Harry's lit wand for him as his injured shoulder had made it difficult for him to keep it raised in the air for long, and he was still carrying the sword from the sorting hat in his other hand.

Both had given up talking some time ago, as neither wanted to give voice to their thoughts that perhaps this tunnel didn't go anywhere at all--perhaps it simply continued on forever and ever, and they would be doomed to walk until they could walk no longer, at which point they would confront Ginny's previous fear of being left to starve to death.

Given these pessimistic thoughts, in addition to the fact that both were beginning to have a hard time keeping their eyes open, even as they walked, it shouldn't be surprising that neither noticed the great drop off in the floor of the cave right in front of them; and so it was with a great deal of alarm and confusion that Harry and Ginny suddenly found themselves tumbling head over heels down a huge sliding incline for the second time that day.

As strange (and slimy) as the first slide (the one from Myrtle's bathroom that led down into the chamber) that day had been, it was nothing compared to the second slide that Harry and Ginny were coursing through at the moment. At first they had seemed to be going downward on such a steep incline that it had seemed more a hole than a slide as it was very nearly vertical. After that though, it had evened out a bit, given them a chance to reposition themselves a little bit so that they were sliding downward feet first, rather than tumbling and rolling as they had been at first, (which was lucky, as the bruises they had incurred were beginning to ache quite badly.) After that, however, the slide seemed to become quite strange. Sometimes they were sliding downwards, sometimes they seemed to be sliding upwards, sometimes they seemed to be spinning around in circles, sometimes they seemed to be looping. The slide was pressing in upon them at one instant, then stretching them outwards in another. At first they had slid in darkness, (Ginny had lost her concentration when she fell, and Harry's wand had been extinguished in her hand,) but as they continued down (or up, or somewhere on) the slide, strange lights began to flash, and images began to flash on the walls around them, behind them, and sometimes right in front of them.

An eyeless basilisk was suddenly lunging at them, fangs bared, and then just as suddenly it was gone, and in its place was a crying girl with thick glasses, and then she was gone as well, and there was a woman screaming and a blinding flash of green light, then two wizards dueling furiously one with another, spells ricocheting off of one another and blinding Harry and Ginny, and then they were replaced with yet another image. An army of goblins was marching through a dreary swamp land, lances held high above the marshy water, when suddenly fiery arrows began to rain down upon them seemingly from no where. A woman tied to a stake was screaming as the flames surrounding her began to lick at her ankles and then her knees, while the woman tied to the stake next to her and in the same position began to laugh first giddily, and then cruely as the flames crept higher and higher. A great ship was being tossed to and fro on some unseen waves. Someone on a broomstick was chasing a golden snitch, and then the snitch became a small golden bird flying furiously to get away, but the wizard on the broomstick was closing in… Countless images continued to rush by them in a blur--much too fast for them to be able to see what most of them were, and the swirling, rushing, flashing lights grew continuously brighter. And then, finally, after what might have been several hours or perhaps only several seconds of sliding in countless directions there was a monkey like man directly in front of them crouched over what seemed to be a toad perched on a nest of something. He opened his mouth wide to let out a loud laugh, and they slid right through the open lips into his mouth and suddenly there was nothing but blackness and silence all around them, and the sliding had stopped, but there was nothing beneath them and they seemed to be suspended in mid-air, but before their brains could register even this they were falling and a moment later they landed in a heap right in the middle of the Hogwarts' Great Hall. Luckily, in the split second between when they began to fall and when they landed, Harry had the good sense to fling the sword away from their bodies--otherwise they might have been impaled quite messily. As it was, they only sustained some bruises to cover up their bruises.

Harry groaned and tried to turn his head to see if Ginny was okay beside him, but before he could a great many people were screaming and shouting and suddenly both he and Ginny found themselves bound from head to toe in thick ropes and a wizard it crimson robes was stalking towards them, wand raised menacingly.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Who are you, and how on earth did you apparate into Hogwarts?"

End of Chapter One! Please Review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Secrets of the Founders**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Summary**: What if Voldemort had been prompted to protect and booby trap his horcruxes, including a certain diary, a bit more thoroughly? What if the chamber of secrets contained secrets other than those we have discovered so far? Very much Harry/Ginny (although not until a bit later on…)

**Rating**: PG for now, although it will most definitely go higher later on in the story…

**Ships**: H/G is the only one I'll guarantee… The rest will be whatever my muse tells me they should be. He's very demanding about these sorts of things.

**A/N**: Hello all, and thank you for reading my story! Presenting chapter two--Thanks so much for the reviews I've received so far! Sorry for the delay--chapter three should be up much more quickly than chapter two--although with proper incentive it should come up even more quickly (meaning….please, please, please review!) Thanks! (Once again--I didn't take the time to beta it very thoroughly, so feel free to point out my mistakes as well…My muse is such a lazy bum.)

**Chapter Two**

Harry groaned and tried to turn his head to see if Ginny was okay beside him, but before he could a great many people were screaming and shouting and suddenly both he and Ginny found themselves bound from head to toe in thick ropes and a wizard in crimson robes was stalking towards them, wand raised menacingly.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "Who are you, and how on earth did you apparate into Hogwarts?"

Harry tensed up, struggling automatically against the ropes that bound him, but his arms were bound so tightly to his sides that he was unable to even shift them. The sword he had taken from the sorting hat was out of reach, even if he hadn't been tied up, and Ginny still had his wand, though he doubted she was in any better of a position to reach it than he was.

Meanwhile, the menacing looking wizard in the red robes was still waiting for an answer. "Well?" he barked. "How did you manage to apparate past the wards? Speak, or I'll be forced to resort to harsher measures to force answers out of you."

By this point Harry was going into full panic mode. He had just finished destroying a basilisk, defeated an evil Dark Lord's sixteen-year-old memory, survived an earthquake and massive cave-in, been hurled through some kind of crazy slide, and now a mad wizard he had never seen before was threatening him in the middle of the Hogwarts great hall. The hall began to spin around him, the blurred red robe was shouting something, his voice an ominous sort of rumble, when suddenly, it all became too much and Harry slumped to the ground, unconscious.

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Ginny was just wondering whether it might be a good idea to join Harry in his unconscious state, (the ground was beginning to look rather inviting,) when she was distracted by the arrival of a rather short witch in bright yellow robes covered in ruffles and a squashy yellow witch's hat. The witch made to go to Harry, but the wizard in red flung out an arm, holding her back. "Wait," he hissed at her. " He's probably faking--remember, these two just apparated right through your wards, Helga!"

The witch, Helga, looked up at him and rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Godric, look at them--they're only children!" she exclaimed. With a sigh of exasperation she pushed passed the taller wizard and knelt down next to Harry placing a hand on his forehead. Muttering a spell over him, the ropes binding him burst open, then disappeared. Ignoring Godric's exclamation at this act, she continued to move her wand up and down Harry's body, watching as it emitted several softly glowing lights, then with a whispered word, she extinguished it again.

Ginny was watching anxiously, something that Helga noticed as she was standing up, brushing the dust off of her canary colored robes. She gave her a gentle smile. We'd best get your friend up to the healing rooms," she told her. Noticing Ginny's look of panic, she continued. "He'll be just fine, I'm sure. I'd just like to reexamine him in a more comfortable setting." With another swish of her wand, the ropes binding Ginny fell to the ground around her ankles, then disappeared entirely. Godric made another strangled noise, which Helga ignored. With a swish and a flick of her wand, Harry was levitated slowly into the air. "Come along, child," said Helga to Ginny with a small smile. She then turned to Godric with a scowl. "You maintain order here, then after lunch you can stop by the infirmary if you promise to be civil." Godric's glare, which had been focused on a trembling Ginny turned itself onto Helga. She seemed unfazed by it. "And eat your turnips!" she added. "Don't think I haven't noticed the way you tried to bury them under your potatoes." Then, head held high, she turned and marched out of the great hall, Harry floating gently along behind her. Not wanting to be left alone with Godric and the still gaping students, Ginny stooped down to collect Harry's sword then limped hurriedly after Helga and Harry.

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Sweat was poring down Ron's face and his fingers were bloodied beyond recognition by the time he realized that this new cave-in hadn't caused just another barrier to the tunnel beyond, it had filled the whole chamber with rocks. Sliding silently to the wall, he allowed himself to give way to the tears that had been threatening to pour forth for the past several hours now. A much younger looking Fawkes, who had abandoned all attempts to carry him to safety as he tried repeatedly to shoo the bird away, gave a soft trill of comfort, and perched himself on Ron's shoulder. When Ron didn't resist, Fawkes took wing, and gripping Ron's robes with one talon, and Lockhart's with the other, he flew them both back up through the grimy tunnel to the safety of Myrtle's bathroom. In his state of misery, Ron didn't notice the gleeful shouting of his addled professor, or even the giggling questions of Myrtle. He allowed himself to be guide by the phoenix to Professor Dumbledore's office with a heavy heart.

The Gargoyle sprang aside at one trill from Fawkes, and Ron, who normally would have been quite awed at the moving spiral staircase beyond, found himself stepping onto it methodically without really noticing it. When he reached the heavy wooden door at the top he entered without bothering to knock.

The minute the door swung open, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, as well as his brother Percy, and his father, holding a barely conscious Mrs. Weasley, all sprang to their feet. "Ron!" cried Percy. He hurried to him and gave a great hug, then pushed to him to the side, and peered down the staircase behind him. "But where's Ginny?" he asked.

"And Harry, where's Harry?" asked Professor McGonagall in the same half panicked tone.

"I don't--" began Ron. "The rocks, and the chamber, and the basilisk-- Harry went, but I couldn't, because of the rocks, and then more rocks…" his voice trailed off. Percy led him to a nearby chair, and he collapsed into it, panting. Mr. Weasley placed an arm around his shoulders while Mrs. Weasley wrapped her arms around him fiercely and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

"Mr. Weasley," said Professor Dumbledore. "I know this is very difficult for you, but you must tell us everything you know."

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It took a great deal of time, and as well as several calming and cheering charms to get the whole story from Ron, beginning with finding the crumpled piece of paper in Hermione's tightly clenched fist, and ending with Professor Dumbledore requesting that Fawkes take himself, Ron and Arthur Weasley back to the Chamber of Secrets to inspect the disaster that had occurred there, but eventually the whole story came tumbling out. Now Ron reexamined his surroundings in a state of shock as Professor Dumbledore and Arthur magically levitated piles of rocks from one point to another. After several long hours, the group had cleared through the rocks of the entrance tunnel to the chamber itself, only to discover that the ceiling of the chamber had completely collapsed. They continued searching through the debris for some time, but deep down, all three of them knew the truth--nothing inside that chamber could have possibly survived.

Professor Dumbledore if possible, was in even more of a state of shock than the other two. Not only had he lost two of his dearest students, but Harry's death, well, it should have been impossible. The only reason the Professor had allowed Harry to face such dangerous challenges in his first year, and this year as well--though he hadn't been present when Harry had entered the chamber, he had suspected that it might be up to Harry to set things right as the year had distinctly reminded him of a year he had been through fifty years earlier--the only reason, was because he was quite certain that the boy would pull through triumphantly. There was a prophecy concerning Harry, which should have guaranteed that he would live to face Voldemort once again. Unless--unless somehow a confrontation had occurred here, today….

It was with a heavy heart and a troubled soul that Professor Dumbledore and the two Weasleys left the Chamber of Secrets (luckily the entrance had remained open) to return to the headmaster's office and break the news to the others.

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Ginny awoke a few hours later to find herself lying in a yellow bed staring at a yellow ceiling. Turning her head slightly, she could see Harry lying on the yellow bed beside her, and the witch Helga in her yellow robes sitting in a chair beside him, sipping a cup of tea, with her feet propped up on Harry's bed. With her feet propped so high Ginny could see some very rufflely ankle length yellow bloomers underneath the robes, and she glanced away, embarrassed.

Glancing down at herself, she realized that she also seemed to be wearing a rather ruffled yellow night gown. "Hey!" Ginny abruptly sat up in the bed turning back towards Helga. "What am I doing in bed? I didn't pass out….did I?"

"Oh no, dear, nothing like that," replied Helga with a merrily tinkling laugh. "I charmed you with a very mild sleeping charm. You seemed like you could do with a nap."

Ginny looked at her groggily. "Who are you, anyway?" she asked.

Helga gave another one of her tinkling laughs. "My name is Professor Hufflepuff. And what may I call you?"

"Ginny," said Ginny. "And that's Harry," she added nodding towards the other bed.

"How do you do, Ginny?" said Professor Hufflepuff. "Now, if you wouldn't mind telling me, I'm quite curious about how it is that you two have arrived here at Hogwarts."

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Harry recognized that he was in the Hogwarts infirmary right off the bat upon waking up, of course, but he couldn't figure out what was so different about the place. Then he realized that he was in the wrong bed. Madam Pomfrey always put him in the bed on the right, closest to the wall, and now he was in the bed next to it. A moment later he realized that the infirmary also happened to be bright yellow. Sitting up slightly, he glanced around taking in the rest of the yellow furnishings, before his eyes landed on Ginny, red hair contrasting vividly with all the yellow, sitting up in the bed next to his chatting amiably with a witch who was sitting in a chair between the two beds. His body relaxed slightly. Ginny was okay, she was here, she wasn't lying motionless at the feet of a great statue deep in the chamber of secrets. He turned towards her slightly, to better hear what she was saying.

"And then," continued Ginny, "we just sort of fell right into this big hole in the ground…we didn't see it there. Actually I don't know if it _was_ there before we fell into it. It just kind of appeared where our feet were. Only it wasn't just a hole, it was this crazy tunnel type slide thingy. And there were all these lights, and flashes of people and places. I think I knew some of them, and I felt like I knew the others, only I don't think I did, and everything was swirling all around us faster and faster, and then it just sort of--stopped, and we fell out of the air, and we landed in the great hall, only you all were there instead of our friends, and Professor Dumbledore, and everyone." She took a deep breath. "And that's it," she said.

"I see," said Professor Hufflepuff thoughtfully. "Most unusual. Quite so. Harry, does this description of events agree with your recollection of things up until the present moment as well?"

Harry started as the witch addressed him. "Er…" he said, "Well, I didn't hear it all, but yeah, that tunnel thingy sounds about right." He pulled himself into a sitting position.

The witch in yellow beamed at him. "I'm so glad you're feeling better, dear," she said. "Basilisk venom in the blood, well, it can take it's toll on a person. Even when counteracted with phoenix tears."

"Who are you?" Harry asked. "What's going on here? Where's Ron and Hermione, and Madame Pomfrey and everyone?"

"I am Professor Hufflepuff," said Professor Hufflepuff. "And I think I may have a theory on all of that. Ginny dear, when's your birthday?"

"Hufflepuff like the house?" asked Harry.

"Yes, exactly," said the professor. "Ginny?"

"August," said Ginny. "August eleventh." Harry stared at them both confusedly.

"August eleventh of what year, my dear?"

"August eleventh, nineteen-eighty-one," said Ginny.

Professor Hufflepuff blinked twice, then twice more very rapidly. "Hummmmm," she said. It sounded almost musical, and suddenly she seemed quite delighted and quite crest-fallen at the same time. "Hum. Ho-hum. One thousand, nine hundred and eighty one, you say? The Roman calendar? Anno Domini, I suppose?" Neither Harry nor Ginny answered, but she continued on just the same. "But of course it would be, since you came from Hogwarts--so Hogwarts must be there. Still. It's still there--imagine that! Is Hogwarts very old where you come from then?"

"Of course," said Harry. "More than a thousand years old. Look, Ma'am--Professor, that is--what's going on?"

"What's going on my dears," said Professor Hufflepuff, "is that it seems you two have somehow managed to travel quite a ways to pay us a little visit. No, not a ways, in distance from one place to another," she continued answering their questioning looks preemptively, "but rather a great distance in time. You see my dears, you are still at Hogwarts, but the year is nine hundred and eighty-eight AD."

Ginny fell off the bed.

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"Good evening, headmaster," Lucius Malfoy said scornfully. He allowed himself a brief smirk in the direction of the sobbing Weasleys, but turned on his heel and left Albus Dumbledore's office before he allowed that smirk to stretch into a full grinch-like smile. He had had a long wait in the headmaster's office after he had arrived that afternoon, and the Weasley woman's incessant bawling had grated heavily on his nerves, but all of the waiting and wondering had been worth it. Calling to his somewhat hysterical house-elf to hurry along, he strode briskly through the halls of Hogwarts, out the front doors, and through the front gates. "Home, Dobby," he snapped, then, raising his cane and whirling his cloak about him, he was gone with a soft pop.

He arrived in a wooded area hidden deep within the grounds of Malfoy Manner, and started back towards the mansion where his master was waiting to hear what had happened at Hogwarts. Lucius walked leisurely, savoring his triumph, but as he entered the main door of the house, he picked up his pace, for the Dark Lord could certainly sense him from here. Hurrying into the drawing room, he through a pinch of green powder into the fire then stepped into the fireplace and whispered the secret password that only he and a few trusted others knew that would take him to the top tower of Malfoy mansion--now accessible only by floo powder, and only from this fireplace. It would not do for any visitor to Malfoy manner to stumble across the Dark Lord's quarters after all, accidentally or not.

Lucius stopped twirling, and stepped gracefully from the Dark Lord's fireplace, (he had spent many hours practicing flooing from one room in the house to the other in order to achieve that grace, though of course he would never admit that to anyone else,) and stood silently, waiting for the Dark Lord to acknowledge him. Voldemort was sitting in a high backed chair with its back to Lucius, but Lucius knew that his Lord knew that he had arrived, and so he stood silently and waited. The room was dark, with just a few candles burning from their holders along the walls, and long velvet curtains drawn across all of the windows. The only pieces of furniture were the chair his lord sat in and a small table close beside it. (Though there were of course, several more comfortably furnished rooms through the doorway off to the right, including a bedroom, bathroom, dining area, and a small library, Lucius knew.)

After several long moments of silence, a hand, pale as bone, appeared over the side of one of the armrests, and a long finger beckoned him forward.

Lucius walked silently to the other side of the room and around the tall chair until he faced the man in the chair. Kneeling he kissed the hem of his lord's inky black robes, then retreated.

"Well, Lucius," said Voldemort. "You have returned. Tell me."

"My Lord," said Lucius, "the plan was a success. Potter and the Weasley girl are most certainly dead--buried beneath the rubble of a massive earthquake, a mile below the school itself. Dumbledore has been reinstated at Hogwarts, but he certainly won't last long--not with a scandal like this on him."

Voldemort smiled and uttered a high, cold laugh. "Certainly he will not last long," he replied. "Much less long, this time around, I think, though I suppose your son is too young for the job. It will have to be Snape this time as well," he said.

"My Lord?" asked Lucius.

"Nothing, Lucius, nothing at all. But is it certain, absolutely certain that Potter and his little girlfriend are dead?"

"Oh yes," said Lucius. "Dumbledore, the Weasleys, the whole school is in a state of uproar. An entire unknown system of tunnels, buried far beneath the school, now completely collapsed. Nothing could have possibly survived."

"Excellent," said Voldemort. "And what of the diary? Give it to me."

"My Lord," replied Lucius, "I--I'm afraid I don't have--"

"You don't have the diary?" hissed Voldemort furiously.

"I--I don't know--" stuttered Lucius.

Voldemort seemed to calm just a bit. "Or course," he said thoughtfully. "You must have gotten it from Potter last time…or even the girl. It would still be in the chamber now. I had hoped to have it returned to me," he mused. "But I suppose it's a fitting burial. The Chamber of Secrets is a fitting resting place for it. A return to the womb, as it were…" Voldemort looked almost dreamy at the prospect. Lucius allowed himself to relax slightly. "Still, you have been quite careless with my diary, twice now, Lucius," said the dark lord. "Crucio!"

In his state of agonizing pain, Lucius was unable to tell what the little gold thing was that his master had pulled from the front of his own robes and begun to admire.

**End of Chapter Two--please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

-1**Secrets of the Founders**

**Disclaimer**: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Summary**: What if Voldemort had been prompted to protect and booby trap his horcruxes, including a certain diary, a bit more thoroughly? What if the chamber of secrets contained secrets other than those we have discovered so far? Very much Harry/Ginny (although not until a bit later on…)

**Rating**: PG for now, although it will likely go higher later on in the story…

**Ships**: H/G is the only one I'll guarantee… The rest will be whatever my muse tells me they should be. He's very demanding about these sorts of things.

**A/N**: Hello all, and thank you for reading my story! Sorry for the long wait, those of you who might have been waiting for chapter three. I've finally made an outline of what is going to happen, more or less, over the course of this story, so hopefully new chapters will come more quickly now. Not much action in this chapter, but it does explain a few things. Once again, reviews give an author incentive, incentive makes an author happy, and happy authors just don't discontinue their stories--they just don't! (The author does not own "Legally Blond".)

**Chapter Three**

It wasn't terribly easy--being a beetle. There were all sorts of dangers and predators that most creatures never even thought twice about. Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet Reporter, knew this better than the average wizard or witch, although she would certainly never admit to it.

The office of headmaster Albus Dumbledore contained a plenitude of normal seeming objects that were nonetheless somewhat hazardous to a beetle, but Rita, currently in her beetle animagus form, had nonetheless decided that the benefits of a little visit to said office outweighed the risks. If the rumours circulating concerning Harry Potter were to be believed, well, Rita would have paid a visit to a muggle insect extermination plant to get such a story!

Luckily the window had been left open. It was such a hassle when Rita was forced to enter the castle through other means and try to work her way up to the headmaster's office. Rita perched on the window ledge, but remained in the shadow of one of the shutters, hoping to avoid the gaze of the blasted phoenix that was always eyeing her hungrily.

The office seemed to be full of people, very few of whom Rita recognized. Of course the multi-vision she experienced as a beetle sometimes made it a bit difficult to tell for sure. She hopped a bit further into the room, perching on one of Dumbledore's bookshelves. destroyed," Albus Dumbledore was saying. "It's not completely certain of course, but I think we must accept that it is very unlikely Harry or Ginny could have survived a basilisk and the avalanche of rocks that must have occurred when the Chamber of Secrets was destroyed, as well as anything else that might have existed in that chamber. Slytherin's heir was supposed to be the only one who could enter the chamber without being killed."

"Albus," a balding red-haired man interjected, "How is it that the chamber was destroyed in the first place? It couldn't have been an earthquake--its effects would have been felt more strongly in the rest of the castle, not to mention Hogsmeade and the surrounding areas."

"It could have been any number of things," said the headmaster. "A curse on the chamber itself, or perhaps on some artifact within; Slytherin himself could have charmed the chamber to destroy itself rather than allow its secrets to all be revealed, or the chamber could simply have been too old to support itself and caved in at just the wrong moment. That's not really what's most important right now."

A red haired woman leaning on the balding man's shoulder let out a shuddering sob.

"But, Professor," said yet another red-head--a boy sitting on the other side of the crying woman, "Is it certain, absolutely certain, that they're gone? I mean, we didn't find their bodies anywhere under those rocks, did we? Perhaps they found some way to get out or maybe they've been kidnapped by the heir of Slytherin and taken somewhere, or _something_… I just don't think we should give up all hope, just yet."

"Hey! The clock! Have you looked at the clock?" asked yet _another _red head from somewhere on the other side of the room. Rita shook her beetle body in momentary confusion. There seemed to be twelve versions of this boy looming over her, rather than the customary six that she was used to. Ah, yes. It was those trouble making twins who had caught her and put her in another boy's soup at dinner the other night. Rita reminded herself to write something nasty about them in her upcoming article.

"Yeah, the clock!" the other twin chimed in now. "We'll get it!" They looked at the headmaster who nodded briefly, and extended a jar full of sparkling green powder toward them. Taking a handful each the boys stepped into the fireplace and disappeared with identical shouts of "The Burrow!"

Rita took advantage of the momentary distraction to leap from the bookshelf onto the corner of Dumbledore's desk, narrowly missing landing in a bowl of those horribly sticky lemon drops Dumbledore liked to keep around.

Everyone in the room sat quietly, apart from the sobs of the red-haired woman, waiting for the twins return. Rita skuttled into the shadow of a nearby stack of papers to avoid the gaze of the greasy-haired man with the hooked nose and the sharp gaze. He had nearly put her into several different potions now, and his eyes were narrowed suspiciously in her direction.

After several long moments, the twins stumbled clumsily back out of the fireplace, one of them clutching a large round clock, which he set gently on top of Dumbledore's desk. Rita had to jump hastily to one side to avoid being squished by it. Everyone gathered around the desk to take a look at it.

The clock had nine golden hands, each with a name written upon them, and in place of

numbers were locations. Most of the hands were currently pointing to the word "school" which was engraved upon the clock along with various other places such as "home," "traveling," "lost," "hospital," "prison," "mortal peril," and "work," which was where two of the hands not pointing to "school" were currently settled. One of the hands, however, the one marked "Ginevra," wasn't pointing to any of these location. Instead it was in continuous motion--circling counter-clockwise around the face of the clock, over, and over, and over again…..

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Meanwhile, somewhere or sometime in a bright yellow version of the Hogwarts infirmary, Ginny Weasley was in the process of picking herself up from the floor where she had just fallen when the door to the infirmary flew open with a loud bang and a dark haired man wearing crimson robes stalked into the room. Ginny tripped over the too-long yellow night-gown she was wearing and fell to the floor once again.

"Well, Helga?" demanded the man. "Have you interrogated the imposters? How did they get into Hogwarts? Who are they?" He waved his wand about menacingly as he spoke. "Friends of Rowena's, I have no doubt," he muttered darkly.

"Godric! Calm down!" Helga snapped in reply. "And good afternoon to you too. What did you tell the students?"

"Oh, nothing much, you know. Just that a couple of dangerous lunatics posing as students were wandering about the school--probably wreaking havoc and destruction wherever they went." Helga glared at him, and Godric let out a breath in exasperation. "I told them that you were taking care of it and that they should finish their lunches and go to class, of course," he said. "You _are_ taking care of it, aren't you? Who are they?" he asked again.

Helga turned to Harry and Ginny, (who had just managed to get herself situated back in the bed, but was wondering whether it might have been smarter to remain safe on the floor beside it,) and said, "Harry, Ginny, I'd like you to meet Godric Gryffindor. Godric, Harry and Ginny are here visiting us from a faraway land. I forgot to tell you all that they were due to arrive by portkey, early this afternoon." She smiled charmingly at him. "Sorry about that, and all."

Godric stared at the two for a moment. "That explains the odd clothes they were wearing, but how is it that they speak our language, if they're from a distant land? And why are you both still so dirty and bloody and everything?" he added, addressing Harry and Ginny now.

"Er…." Harry looked to Helga for help answering the questions.

"I'd wondered myself about the language," said Helga. "But upon examining them it became clear that a translation charm has somehow been cast upon them, making it possible for them to speak and understand our language. And as to their appearance, well." She shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid our young friends are from a violent and war-torn land, Godric. Quite a bit worse even than the problems facing our own land. And they went through an unexpected struggle trying to get to the portkey this morning. I left it in a safe, wooded place, of course, several kilometers away from the fighting that's been going on between the village folk and the goblins, but unfortunately the goblins changed tactics and both the children's home and the portkey ended up right in the middle of the fray. Then, when they finally managed to escape the clutches of a horde of goblins that nearly captured them, there was yet another terrifying struggle with a pack of viscous nifflers who were attracted to the shinyness of the coin that I had charmed to be a portkey." Withdrawing a golden coin from her pocket, Helga tossed it into the air and caught it again before returning it to her pocket and patting it fondly. "Why, if it hadn't been for the children's quick thinking and brave fighting skills, we might have had a pack of nifflers land in our great hall, rather than these two--and we both know what happened the last time a viscous pack of nifflers managed to make their way into the great hall, don't we Godric? You should be thanking them for their bravery and courage. Isn't that right, my dears?" She beamed at Harry and Ginny.

"Er….yes?" said Harry, while Ginny nodded vigorously.

"Downright terrified, the poor dears were by the time they arrived," said Helga. "And then they way you frightened them on top of everything they had been through--well! You should be ashamed of yourself, Godric!"

Godric did look slightly ashamed, but also slightly suspicious, still. "Are you absolutely certain, Helga, that these are the children that you were expecting?"

"Of course I am, Godric," said Helga. "We've been exchanging owls for ages now. I meant to have a welcoming banquet and everything for them--if only this terrible business with Rowena hadn't driven the whole thing completely from my mind."

"Yes, well…" Godric looked slightly distressed for a moment. He looked back at Harry and Ginny. "Welcome to Hogwarts," he said. "I apologize for the former misunderstanding, but I'm sure you understand. Security in these troubled times, and all that." He bowed to them and smiled. "What were your names, again?"

"Harry," said Harry. "And Ginny," he added nodding towards her bed. Ginny allowed herself to relax at last and smiled at them.

"Harry and Ginny, I do hope that you have an enjoyable stay here at Hogwarts. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I have a classroom full of fourth years waiting for me to give them a transfiguration lesson." He bowed once again and exited the room.

Harry turned to Helga the moment the door had closed behind him. "Why did you make up that story?" he asked her. "How do we know you are who you say you are? How can we get back home?"

"Yes, when can we go home?" asked Ginny. "Everyone's going to be terribly worried about us, you see."

Helga sighed and turned to look at them, her expression troubled. "I am sorry, my dears. I had to tell Godric, that story. You see, he would never have believed that you really are who you say you are. He might have even forced you to leave the castle, and I'm afraid it's just not safe for a young witch or wizard to be out in the forest alone--especially in these times. As to when you can go home….well, I'm afraid time travel leaps of more than a few hours are quite impossible--in our time at least. Perhaps in the future they've invented more advanced forms of time travel that you two might know about?"

Helga looked at Harry and Ginny questioningly, but sighed sadly when Ginny said, "No, I mean, I don't know," and Harry shrugged and shook his head no as well.

"No one knows more about time travel than Rowena Ravenclaw, only I'm afraid that Rowena has turned upon us all. Yes… No. I will look into the matter, but it seems that for the time-being, you're stuck here."

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Lord Voldemort inhaled deeply enjoying the feeling of cool air entering his lungs. Even after over three full years of repossessing his body, he still remembered the lack of breathing, lack of feeling, lack of anything during his thirteen years of existence as something less than even a spirit. In fact, his past self was still existing in that form right at this very moment, somewhere deep in the forests of Albania.

Yet here he was, flesh and spirit. Voldemort laughed coldly remembering the utter shock that Lucius had shown when he had entered his study late one night, ten months ago, to find Lord Voldemort already sitting in his desk chair, calmly awaiting his arrival. It had not taken much convincing to gain Lucius' assistance in carrying out his plan.

Still. Voldemort ceased laughing and gripped the armrests of his chair as he considered what had motivated him to take his little trip back in time to enact this new plan. It had been a dark night and he had been feeling exultant. The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix had been compromised and he and a band of his death eaters had destroyed the house and all those who had been sleeping peacefully inside. That werewolf who had been leading a resistance among the other werewolves, Remus Lupin, Tonks and Shacklebolt, who were not only order members, but aurors, and five others, whose names he had not bothered to learn, all killed in one fell swoop. The dark mark was left hovering over the rubble that had once been number twelve, Grimauld Place, and those that resisted him had been taught an important lesson. He had been filled with glee upon returning to the old Riddle house, unable to control his own triumphant laughter, when quite suddenly a deafening siren began screeching throughout the house. Voldemort had abruptly stopped laughing as the death eaters around him had clapped their hands to their ears looking around in alarm and fear. Voldemort hadn't been afraid, he had been enraged, for the alarm could mean only one thing--someone had taken Hufflepuff's cup.

A furious search of his various hiding places had ensued, and as he reached each one his anger, and even his fear, grew stronger. The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup--all gone.

At last he had arrived at a specially protected grove deep within the Dark Forest in Germany where he had had his first lessons in true dark magic, and breathed a sigh of relief to find the golden time-turner, created by Rowena Ravenclaw herself, safe in its hiding place within the trunk of a solid oak tree. Still, Voldemort had remained in the grove, pondering his discoveries. Only three bits of his soul remained now--the time-turner, the snake, Nagini, and the bit within his own body. His soul had already been split seven times--he dared not split it again, for fear of destroying the already fragile remaining bits. A soul was never meant to be split in such a fashion.

And so he pondered. Ravenclaw's time-turner was powerful. Very powerful. It could probably take someone back in time as much as a year--maybe two. And now, imbued with part of his own soul as it was, and with a few dark spells he had heard of, the time turner would be more powerful still. It could take him back perhaps five or even six years into the past--but it could prove costly, very costly. He would only have one chance to get it right--and chances were good that such a trip could destroy the precious bit of soul within the time turner…. But Potter had become powerful in this time. Far more powerful than he had realized if he had succeeded in destroying four of his horcruxes. Costly it may be, but if it meant that he could destroy Potter and Dumbledore early on in the game, when they were least expecting him, if it meant he could ensure that his horcruxes remained safely hidden forever, if it meant victory and endless power, then the risk was more than worth it.

And so Voldemort had made his preparations and plans, flipped the time-turner six times, and arrived in the year 1992 with a thirst, stronger than ever before, for revenge.

And now it was nearly complete. Potter was dead. Dumbledore would soon be dead. "And the world," Voldemort whispered, "Will soon be mine."

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"Ginny," Harry whispered. She was thrashing about a bit as she lay asleep on the bed next to his, but didn't wake. It was late in the afternoon, and Harry could see the sun beginning to sink low in the sky through the infirmary windows. Earlier, Helga had led Harry and Ginny outside where they had used the available toilet facilities, then brought them back inside the castle to two separate rooms where hot baths and a change of clothing had been prepared for each of them. Afterwards Helga had led them back to the infirmary telling them to rest up a bit, as she had a potions class to attend to, and that she would be back in a few hours to discuss what their options were.

Now Harry swung his legs over the side of his bed and crossed to Ginny's bed. She continued to thrash about and her eyelashes fluttered madly as her eyes moved back and forth beneath her closed eyelids. Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. "Ginny," he said. She gasped and sat up abruptly, looking around in confused panic. "Ginny," Harry said again. Her eyes landed on Harry's face and she let out a shuddering breath and clutched on to his arm. "Shhhh," Harry whispered. "It's okay." Ginny took a deep breath and let it out slowly, before she shook her head slightly and focused on Harry's face.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," replied Harry. "Bad dream?"

"Just--yeah. A little. I'm okay now," said Ginny. She exhaled again and smiled at him.

"Good. Listen, Ginny, I've been thinking about, you know, all this--stuff--that's been happening, and well, I'm kind of worried." Ginny scooted over on the bed and he sat down on the edge of it, then leaned in to whisper to her. "How do we know that Hufflepuff really is who she says she is?"

"I don't know, Harry, she seems pretty trustworthy to me," Ginny said. Then she smiled sadly. "Of course, I can't really be trusted to be able to tell who's trustworthy, can I?"

Harry patted her hand in a comforting way, then allowed his hand to rest on top of hers absentmindedly. "The thing is," he said, "Even if Hufflepuff really is Hufflepuff, or even if she really is trustworthy, how can we know that this isn't all some big trick of Voldemort's? Or even of Slytherin's? Where is Slytherin anyway? Shouldn't he be around somewhere? I just--I'm worried, Gin."

Ginny remained silent for a moment. "What do you think we should do?" she asked finally.

"I don't know," Harry replied. "Maybe we shouldn't stay here. Maybe this whole time-warp thing is only real inside the castle. Or maybe not. I just, I don't know."

"What do you think is going on with Rowena Ravenclaw?" asked Ginny. "Why did Helga say that she turned on everyone?"

Harry shook his head slowly. "I haven't really studied about the founders, but Binns only said anything about Slytherin having any sort of disagreement with the other founders, because he didn't want to admit muggle-borns. That was why he ended up creating the chamber and everything."

"Helga said that she's the one that knows the most about time travel," said Ginny. "I think we should find out what happened with her."

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, we should." He leaned his head back against the headboard of Ginny's bed and stared at the ceiling. "Only…Helga said herself that time travel this far into the past is supposed to be impossible. If this is some trick of Voldemort's, or Slytherin's, or whoever, we need to know."

"Okay," said Ginny slowly. "So, let's do what you said earlier. Leave the castle. Even if it is a trick of Slytherin's or of You-know-who's, they wouldn't be able to make it last for very long, right? I mean, charms for that sort of thing are very complicated."

Harry shrugged. "I suppose they must be," he said.

"So--we'll head to the village, and if we get there and everything's still all queer, we can try flooing the Burrow." She thought for a moment. "Do you suppose they have floo powder in this time?"

"Dunno," said Harry. He sat up straight again. "Okay, that sounds like a good plan to me. Should we go now?"

"I suppose we could," said Ginny. She looked apprehensive. "Only--it's going to be dark soon. Helga said that it's very dangerous outside of the castle."

"She said the forest is very dangerous," pointed out Harry. "We certainly won't be heading into the forest. Still--I'm not entirely certain I know the way to the village, and you're right, it is going to be dark. Perhaps we should wait until morning."

Ginny nodded. "First thing tomorrow, then."

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**End of chapter three--chapter four coming soon. Please Review! (Also--I'm curious. Tell me what you think is going to happen!)**


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